49.48 lakh street vendors identified in India: Government

New Delhi, February 3

Around 49.48 lakh street vendors have been identified in the country so far, with Uttar Pradesh having the maximum at 8.49 lakh, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 7.04 lakh, the government said on Thursday.

Maharashtra and Telangana have identified 5.84 lakh and 5.02 lakh street vendors, respectively, while Delhi has only 72,457 street vendors, the Lok Sabha was informed.

According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry’s reply to a written question, no street vendor has been identified in Sikkim.

In the written reply, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that for socio-economic upliftment of street vendors, the MoHUA launched, on January 4, 2021, ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ in 125 urban local bodies.

He said that it aims to link PM SVANidhi Scheme beneficiaries and their family members to select central government welfare schemes.

The ministry said that a total of 49,48,614 street vendors have been identified by the states and union territories in the country.

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu have 3,21,406 and 3,09,449 street vendors, respectively. West Bengal has identified 673 street vendors in the state.

There are 2,56,926 street vendors in Andhra Pradesh, while Karnataka has identified 2,65,477 such people. Bihar has 1,56,965 street vendors.

Puri said that under PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, the vendors may avail a working capital loan of up to Rs 10,000 followed by loans of Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000 in the second and third tranches respectively, on repayment of earlier tranche or tranches.

The loan amount is directly released to beneficiaries by the lending institutions, the minister added.